Nice load. You can drop it in my back lot. Thanks.
I think I finally got some Oak!
- Thread starter Kevin in Ohio
- Start date
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It does look a little like bitternut hickory and I've worked up a few of those. It split a lot harder than any bitternut I've ever done though. Bitternuts I've dealt with will split with one or two wacks with a maul, even did a 3 fter down the middle on every single piece. This stuff the bark was stringy sometimes and the center fibers would hold. I know there can be different variations in the same tree family but this is VERY different from the others I've done.
Not so sure now I thought it was Oak but hey a burn test will tell if it is Hickory by the really good nutty smoked meat smell. Also Op go back and look for nuts on the ground around the tree.
4seasons
ArboristSite Guru
I have never seen a northern red oak, but that bark is too thin for southern red oak. Doesn't quite look like bitternut hickory bark either though. Most the bitternut I deal with is smaller trees though so the bark would look a little different. Any chance of a picture of a smaller limb? The wood grain does look more like hickory than oak and hickory is much harder to split. Lots of stringy fibers hold the wood together so that you have to run a wedge all the way thru almost ever split. Red oak splits much easier. As soon as red oak pops open the split will almost fall apart with very little holding it together. Hickory also smells much better than oak as red oak will have a "cat pee" smell to it.
Here's what some northern red oak looks like!
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OH_Varmntr
Burner of stored sunlight
Another vote for hickory here. Looks just like a pignut hickory I cut up last year.
Zeus103363
ArboristSite Operative
Here are some more pics of the limb wood. Sounds like Oak is still eluding me? This split a lot different than the Bitternut I worked up in the past and that's why I didn't think it was that. The bark does look like it though. I know from beech wood that even the same varirty of tree, from the same woods can vary on the splitability, even on straight grain.
As far as looking for leaves and nuts under the tree, 90 MPH + winds tend to make that pretty much unreliable. There was much at all left around the tree as it pulled one completely out of the ground.
A lot of the bark was real "chewy" as it split and did this. In any event it's hardwood so all is good!
As far as looking for leaves and nuts under the tree, 90 MPH + winds tend to make that pretty much unreliable. There was much at all left around the tree as it pulled one completely out of the ground.
A lot of the bark was real "chewy" as it split and did this. In any event it's hardwood so all is good!
Hickory it is , start smoking with it.
Split up 3 loads like this, this morning. Standing 3 years dead ash and they are going straight to the boiler house to burn later in the Winter. More your size?
I normally wheel them in on a cart through the big door but was going to load the boiler a round first. One less handling!
zogger
Tree Freak
So what type of hickory is it then?
Zeus103363
ArboristSite Operative
This is Bitternut Hickory bark in Louisiana.
4seasons
ArboristSite Guru
Small limb is bitternut or pignut hickory for sure. I split all my wood by hand so I consider hickory to be about the toughest to split. For a straight grained piece when hit with a maul it pops open pretty easy but all those little fibers hold the splits together. You can't pull it apart by hand so you have to keep driving the wedge into the log or use an ax to cut thru all the little fibers sticking together. Of course if you put it on a splitter it will bust pretty easy but you have to use the full stroke to cut the fibers or pull the splits apart with a wide wedge. This is one of the reasons that hickory is used for handles on axes, hammers, shovels etc. It holds together better than almost any other wood. It is also among the best wood out there for BTU's and also has some really good smoke flavor for making BBQ. I tend to use the white wood for making ax handles, the heart wood for the smoker, and every thing else goes into the wood stove. Of course bugs love hickory too so I try to burn it 1 year after cutting just to eliminate the piles of dust that boring beetles leave. It also pops and throws sparks a lot too so many people don't like it in an open fire place. I think it is the bugs that really make it pop so bad. I have a real love/ hate relationship with hickory. Love the heat, smell, durability for handles, but hate having to split it, all the dust the bugs leave, all the popping when I open the stove, and hauling the weight of the green stuff.
GrassGuerilla
Olympic Piss-reving wanna be.
Hickory. I'm no arborist, but my belly recognizes Hickory. Do yourself a favor and make some chuncks for tossing on the Weber. Won't be fit to heat with for a year or so, but its ready for smoking now.
robespierre
ArboristSite Operative
Doesn't most species of oak wood have a peculiar Tannin smell when you hit the heartwood?
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